Position in chronology
MRAH O.5005
About this tablet
A small feed-account from the Old Akkadian period (about 2300 BCE): the administration issues barley as fodder for four draft donkeys over two days, handing it to a named herdsman, Lugal-ennun. A closing remark notes that the animals themselves belong to (or are under the charge of) Ur-Utu, and the whole transaction is dated to the harvest month. It is a snapshot of how carefully even animal feed was tracked in Mesopotamian estate bookkeeping — the quantities on the tablet add up exactly.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Four working donkeys of the team were each allotted 4 ban of barley a day for two days. The total comes to 1 gur, 1 barig, 2 ban of barley — which is exactly 4 ban times four animals times two days in the local measuring system. The grain was handed over to Lugal-ennun, the donkey herder. The donkeys themselves are recorded as belonging to Ur-Utu, the en. The account is dated to the barley-harvest month.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 4 team donkeys, at 4 ban of barley each, 2. for the 2nd day (i.e., 2 days); 3. its barley: 1 gur, 1 barig, 2 ban of barley. 4. (To) Lugal-ennun, 5. the donkey herder, 6. it was given. 7. The donkeys are those of the en, 8. Ur-Utu. 9. Month: "Harvest" (še-sag-ku5).
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
4(asz@c) ansze surx(ERIM) 4(ban2@c) sze-ta u4 2(disz@t)-kam sze-bi 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) sze gur lugal-en-nun sipa ansze-ra an-na-szum2 ansze en-na ur-utu-kam itix(|UDxBAD|) sze-sag11-ku5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MRAH O.5005. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels, Belgium (P452980) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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Related sources
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